UN forces and the Congolese army attacked rebel positions with helicopter gunships, armored personnel carriers and a phalanx of ground troops on Wednesday, ramping up the UN’s engagement in the latest rebellion to roil the country’s east.
The fighting was some of the fiercest in the week since the newly created UN intervention brigade went on the offensive, and one Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed after the rebels aimed artillery fire at their position, the UN said in a statement.
Seven other troops were also wounded, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
“I am outraged by today’s killing of a United Nations peacekeeper from Tanzania by the M23,” said Martin Kobler, the special representative of the secretary-general in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who heads the peacekeeping mission. “He sacrificed his life to protect civilians in Goma.”
The fighting took place 15km from the provincial capital of Goma, a city that is home to nearly 1 million people and which was briefly captured by the M23 rebels late last year.
The UN involvement in the latest flare-up of violence is in sharp contrast to November, when the UN peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, stood by as the rebels overtook Goma because their mandate was only to protect civilians.
The stepped-up UN intervention brigade, created by the UN Security Council in March, is authorized to take the offensive against the rebels.
“It’s already changing the equation. For now, I would shy away from calling it a game changer. It’s certainly unprecedented not only for Congo, but for peacekeeping itself and the UN at large,” said Timo Mueller, a Goma-based researcher with the Enough Project, an advocacy group active in eastern Congo.
Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said in a statement that Ban condemned the killing of the Tanzanian and violence against UN peacekeepers generally.
Even as forces pounded the rebels, UN officials continued to send mixed messages about the extent of their involvement, repeatedly saying they were merely “backing” or “supporting” the Congolese military, rather than leading the offensive themselves.
“The main engagement is by the [Congolese] forces,” said Siphiwe Dlamini, a spokesman for the South African military, which contributed troops to the brigade. “We are retaliating and going on the offensive.”
However, M23 president Bertrand Bisimwa, who spoke by telephone, said the UN’s intervention brigade was on the frontline of Wednesday’s fighting.
“It was the UN that was shooting directly at us, from their helicopters. It’s the Tanzanian and South African [UN] troops that are on the frontline. It’s them that we see first,” Bisimwa said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese